Tangled Web
by snbe111800
Summary: Leland Chapman's wife wove quite a tangled web in their little lives. Can his brother Duane Lee help her pick up the pieces?
1. Chapter 1

(Disclaimer- Don't know them, don't own them, this is a work of fiction!)

I gasped as his hand slid across my hip; waking me from a deep sleep. "You're hands are cold." I whisper still half asleep.

A soft chuckle comes from deep within his chest as he presses his body to mine. "I just got out of the shower, I'm surprised you didn't hear me come in." he says as he softly kisses my bare shoulder. "Long day baby?"

I nod my head; eyes still closed. "What time is it?"

He shifts his body, looking over his shoulder to the clock; "It's just after 2:00. Sorry I'm so late coming in. It seemed like every time we decided to go home we got another lead."

I snuggle in closer to his body, pulling his arms tighter around my waist. "It's okay. You're here now." I say smiling into the dark room. I took a deep breath forcing my eyes to open and rolled over to face him. "Mmm you smell like soap. So clean…" I say with a sigh.

I could feel him smiling as he pressed his lips to my forehead. "How were the kids today? Give you much trouble?"

"Your children were awful."

"My children? Why are they only my children when they misbehave?"

"Because I would not birth such hellions…so they must belong to you and you alone." I say, trying not to laugh.

He shakes his head, laughing. "What did they do this time?"

"What didn't they do, might be a better question…" I tell him as he starts to run his fingers through my hair. "Laney and Olivia got into a fight over who was going to wash the dog and somehow in the middle of the argument they ended up pushing Kaiden into the pool. So, Kaiden freaks out and thinks he's going to drown; although he can swim. So I have to dive into the pool with my clothes on and save him… It's not funny; stop laughing." I say, as I playfully swat him on the butt.

"I'm so sorry baby." He says between laughs. Minutes later we fall into a comfortable silence; each of us reflecting on our long days.

These late night chats, as I called them weren't uncommon between us. I guess after seven years of marriage you had to find the time to talk to one another as husband and wife; not mother and father. And if 2:00 in the morning was the only time it could be done, then so be it.

"I've been thinking…" Leland starts to say but then stops; no doubt waiting for a smart ass remark from me about that being surprising… but, I decided to keep quiet this time.

"I've been thinking that maybe we should try have another baby."

I pulled away from him, wishing he could see my face in the dark room and say, "Are you high? After what I just told you, you want to put one more child in the mix? I just don't know if I could do that… I don't think my body or my mind could take much more."

Defeated, he lets out a breath he'd no doubt been holding since getting into bed. I knew my husband and I knew this had to be something that had been on his mind for a while. He was always so great about considering every possible scenario when it came to a big decision; like having children.

"I knew you would say no..."

"Well, you were right."

"It's just - "

"It's just what? I know you want a big family Leland and I understand that. I'm afraid that we're in over our heads now with the three we've got…and you have two older sons…that's five children that you're emotionally and financially responsible for."

"I'm sorry I brought it up; let just go to sleep." He says rolling onto his other side; his back now facing me.

I huffed, closing my eyes. It wasn't often that he was mad enough to turn his back to me.

"No, I'm sorry. I shot you down before I even considered your feelings. Can you give me a little time to process this?" I ask, pressing my bare chest to his warm back.

"Sure baby." He says quietly. "Love you, goodnight." He says before drifting into a deep sleep.

The next morning I woke up with a bright ray of light shining through the bedroom window, rolling over I reached out to my husband only to find cold sheets. I sat up looking at the clock; it was 11:00.

"Wow." I say to myself as I run my hands through my wild morning hair. Hearing the laughter coming from downstairs I got up, putting my clothes on and made my way out of the bedroom to find my family.

"Mommy!" Olivia yells running toward me. "Did we wake you up? Daddy said not to be loud because you were sleeping."

I smiled, pulling her into a hug. "No sweet pea, you didn't wake me up."

She seems satisfied with my answer and runs back to her sister and daddy who are playing Barbie dolls.

"Good morning beautiful." Leland says, standing up to kiss me softly. I return his kiss, eliciting a few "eww's" and "yucky's" from our kids.

"Thanks for letting me sleep in."

He winks, giving me another brief kiss. "Anything for you."

Having a rare, quiet afternoon to myself I tanned topless by the pool; it was one of the perks of living at the end of a very secluded street. I rolled onto my stomach, enjoying the warm afternoon sun.

The backdoor slid open and I pushed my sunglasses on top of my head and squinted as he stepped into my view.

"Hey sexy."

"What a shame, I didn't know I was missing all this." He says licking his lips. "You know, one of these days you're going to get caught." He says sitting down on the lounge chair next to mine.

"Get caught doing what exactly?"

"Lying around naked." He says, leaning back in the lounge chair. "I have to say, you're not leaving much to the imagination."

I roll my eyes, laughing. "I have bottoms on."

He leans in closer to me, "The top is what we all want to see."

The heat rose in my cheeks as he flirted with me. Flirting was something I had always enjoyed with him. It came so natural, so easy. I could see why women loved him.

"Besides – "he says leaning even closer, "We all know fake breasts are hot."

I looked up, shocked at what I was hearing. "They are not fake! They are perfectly real!" I say defending my boobs.

"Hmm… I don't know." He says mockingly.

I knew he was just trying to get under my skin; that was our game. He'd start out flirting and find a way to insult me. I wasn't sure what his game was. But it was always fun to play. Today I would get one over on him.

I rolled onto my stomach and sat up, my bare chest facing him. A gentle breeze blows by, making my nipples hard. I grabbed his hands, placing them on my breasts.

"Tell me how they feel?" I ask seductively.

"I, ugh… wow… they're really…nice." He finally manages to say. He swallows hard, looking into my eyes. "You're so fucking hot."

I heard a car door slam and the happy voices of my children. I gently removed his hands and slid my top over my head and walked back toward the house.

"We're home mommy!" my babies voices carry throughout the house as they run toward me followed by their father.

"Hey mommy." Leland says as he leans in to kiss me. "I saw Duane Lee's car outside, is he here?"

I smile innocently, "Yeah, he's sitting out by the pool."


	2. Chapter 2

_The cool water of the swimming pool felt refreshing against my warm skin as I floated lazily on my back. Even with my eyes closed I could feel his bearing down on me, looking into my soul._

"Are you gonna stare at me all day or get in the pool?" I asked off-hand, opening my eyes. A moment later my body was rocking gently with the waves as he stepped into the water. I righted myself, shaking the water out of my ears as I came face to face with him. He was beautiful and tanned; his chest broad and toned from hours upon hours of working out in the gym.

"Mila, I shouldn't be here but I couldn't help myself." He whispers against my neck as he places soft, gentle kisses along my collarbone. His lips like fire, my body like ice.

"We can't Duane Lee…" I say as he slides a hand beneath the back of my bikini to cup my bottom, pulling my legs around his waist a moment later.

"No one has to know."

"Leland…" I blurt out, suddenly thinking of my husband.

"Fuck Leland."

I awoke with a jerk to find my husband's hands roaming my body.

"Did I scare you? The way you were moaning I thought you wanted this..." He says barely above a whisper as his right hand seizes my breast. He looks at me with expectant eyes.

My shaky voice says, "I do ... I do want this Leland."

There was an agonizing ache in my heart as a hand inched down to part my thighs. Why did I feel so guilty about a dream... it was just a dream after all. Then there was the incident at the pool...But it had felt so right and so wrong all at once. I opened my mouth to stop my husband; I wanted desperately to tell him what I had done; that I'd put his own brother's hands on my breasts.

But I couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to say the words, knowing how hurt and disappointed he would be. So I kept it to myself.

A month later there was a hard knock at my front door. I pulled a shirt over my head and threw the bath towel down and rushed out of my room. It was unusual to get a knock in the middle of the day when the kids were at school and my husband at work.

"Duane Lee... what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Colorado with everyone else?" I asked, surprised to see him standing in my doorway.

"Oh no..." he says, faking a cough. "I'm much too sick to travel."

I looked on suspiciously at his little act. "Um hmm... I'm sure. Come in." I tell him as I open the door wider so that he can walk past me. "So, if you're sick, shouldn't you be at home, in bed?"

He sighs, "If only I have someone to take care of me."

"Don't give me the sad blue eyes. I'm immune!" I say swatting him on the leg as he sits down next to me on the sofa. I turned to face him, drawing my legs up and onto the sofa and propped my chin on my knees.

His eyes travel the length of my body making me slightly uncomfortable. "So what are you doing today?" he asks quietly. "Cleaning, working out, being sexy?"

"Yep...you got it; I'm just sitting around being sexy until your brother comes back in a few days. Stick around and I might even put my lingerie on." I whisper back, before becoming fully aware of the words that flew out of my mouth. "I shouldn't have said that." I tell him, clasping my hand over my mouth.

In two seconds he was leaning over me, pushing my back against the sofa. "You meant every word of it, Mila. Just admit it."

I couldn't find my voice as he stared down at me, licking his lips. The phone started to ring and he began to press his weight against me. I was able to manage the words, "The phone." just as the answering machine picked up and Leland's voice floated through the house.

_"Hey babe just wanted to tell you I landed and I will call you later tonight. Love you and miss you already!"_

All of my senses came rushing back to me as Leland told me he loved me; I pushed Duane Lee off of me and stood up, "I am your brother's wife. Have some respect!"

"Were you respecting him when you let me feel you up at the pool?" he asks his voice cold.

"That was a mistake. One I don't care to repeat."

"Bullshit." he screams, making me jump. "I see the way you look at me, the way you flirt with me when he's not around."

My breath was coming hard and fast. I was pissed. How dare he insinuate that I wanted to be with him? "Do I want to be with him?" I asked myself.

"No, no, no...you're wrong Duane Lee. So very wrong." I say defensively. "I only do it to torture you, which is why you do it to me. For fun!" I scream as I walk past him and into the laundry room. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have laundry to do before I pick up the kids from school."

I pulled some of Leland's clothes out of the washer, bending over to pull the last pair of jeans out and he was pressing his body against me; leaning in to whisper in my ear, "Just know, this isn't over."

After a busy Saturday morning I had finally gotten the girls to their sleepover and taken Kaiden to a birthday party. When I pulled back into the driveway Duane Lee was waiting on me.

"Great." I mumbled to myself as I got out of the car. "What are you doing here?" I asked, becoming more irritated the closer he got to me. I knew that Leland was due back tonight so the last thing I wanted was to be in a bad mood when he got home. Duane Lee followed me into the house without saying a word. I was a little unnerved to say the least.

"Stop for a minute." He says quietly, grabbing my arm as I walked past him. I was trying my best to ignore him by straightening up the kitchen. "Sit down with me…" he says seriously. I sat down next to him as he rubs a trembling hand across his forehead; whatever he wanted to say was weighing heavily on his mind.

"Before I say anything I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier this week. I shouldn't have tried to force myself on you. It was wrong and I'm sorry…so sorry."

I could only nod my head; I wasn't sure what to say.

"It's just that lately…" he continues a moment later, "I've been thinking a lot about the past, about what happened between us and a lot about the things that never happened between us. Don't you ever wonder how it might have been? How different your life would have been?"

"I …" I start to say, but stop myself. The truth was I couldn't think about it; if anything I had put the entire past out of my mind; praying that it wouldn't come back to haunt me.

I could see the pain on his face, the hurt in his eyes as he looked to me for a confirmation of my feelings for him.

"Duane Lee, I love Leland, he's my husband."

"I know." He whispers sadly, looking down at his hands. "I'm not questioning your love for him. I'm asking if you ever think about us."

"I can't think about us or what might have been, I have a family to think about."

"We have a family Mila, or did you forget to think about that too!" He yells, as he stands up and starts pacing the room.

"How dare you throw that back in my face? You swore to me that no one would ever find out." I remind him. "I was a child Duane Lee… a fucking child when it happened."

"You were sixteen."

"And you were almost twenty. You should have known better and I shouldn't have gotten involved with you. But I wanted that attention, I needed it and you were more than happy to give it to me!" Tears were welling up in my eyes, threatening to spill over the more I said to him.

My past had indeed come back to haunt me some fifteen years later courtesy of the first person I had ever loved. The man who had taken my virginity and fathered my first child; Dylan…sweet Dylan who was now fifteen and only knew me as Aunt Mila. All these years later I still wasn't sure how I had gotten away without anyone finding out. Of course things hadn't gone exactly as we'd planned.

_Fifteen years ago:  
>My hands were trembling as I held the pregnancy test in my hand. "Positive." I whispered to my reflection in the mirror. Dropping the test on the bathroom counter I started to cry. "This can't be happening. Please God; don't let this happen to me." I begged, looking skyward toward heaven.<em>

More than an hour later I finally convinced myself to stand up and face the facts. I was sixteen and pregnant.

I sat down on my bed and picked up the phone; shaky fingers made quick work of dialing the familiar number of my next door neighbor, Duane Lee. I'd been neighbors with him since I was ten years old and moved in with my grandmother a week after my parents died in a car wreck. He had a younger brother, Leland who was my age; he lived with his father in Hawaii but visited his mother often. I considered both brothers to be my best friends.

As I stared at the floor, I felt my bed shift as Duane Lee sat down next to me; leaning in to kiss me on the cheek.

"What's wrong? You sounded upset on the phone." He asks me as I look up at him.

"I'm pregnant." I cry through a fresh batch of tears. "What are we going to do? I'm only sixteen, I can't have a baby."

Eight months later:

Duane Lee wiped the sweat from my forehead as I started into my thirteenth hour of labor. I tried my best to smile at him as another contraction started. A moment later I started to cry, knowing this would be the best and worst day of my life; giving birth to my son only to turn around and give him up for adoption. It was the hardest decision I had made and probably would ever make in my life, but it was a decision we made together as parents. We had chosen a married couple who were unable to have children of their own. We would give the baby to them today, hours after he was born.

"Don't cry." Duane Lee says sweetly, wiping a stray tear off my cheek with his thumb. "It's going to be hard, but we made the right decision, right?" he asks, looking down at me.

"Right." I say, pulling myself away from my depressing thoughts. "I still can't believe that no one found out about this. Especially your mom or my grandmother." I say with a nervous laugh.

Three hours later the doctor placed the newborn in my arms as Duane Lee looked on. I rubbed my fingertip across his soft cheek; glancing up at Duane. "He's perfect."

An hour after that our baby was given to his new parents, who named him Dylan.

Present Day:

"I've never felt emptier than I did that day, laying there in the hospital room; both of us staring at each other, not knowing what to think." I say as he sits back down on the sofa with me.

"I felt like I was dying inside." He tells me. A few tears slide down his cheek as I reach over and put my hand on his arm.

"That was the last time I saw you until my wedding day."

_Seven Years ago:_

I stared at my reflection in the large mirror. I couldn't believe I was getting married today. After everything I'd been through in my life I had finally found a man who loved me for everything that I was; a man who was sweet, loving, affectionate and full of life

Leland had been in and out of my life since I moved in with my grandmother. Two years ago we reconnected as adults when I happened to stop by to visit with his mother one summer day. It was love at first sight and we hadn't been apart more than a few hours since that day.

Leland's mother stuck her head in my dressing room, a huge smile stretched across her face. "You look beautiful honey; Leland won't know what hit him." She says happily.

"Thank you. I'm so nervous."

She laughs with me and says, "You have a visitor…" as the door opens wider and Duane Lee walks in.

"Duane." I gasp, not expecting him to come walking through the door. It had been eight years since we last spoke. His mother closes the door, giving us some privacy.

"Wow. I always knew you'd be a beautiful bride…can't believe it's my brothers bride; but you're beautiful nonetheless." He tells me, stepping a little closer to me. "I would ask what you've been up to but you're the only thing my brother talks about when he calls me. "

I smiled nervously. "It's been a long time since I've seen you. You left for college a few days after…after…that day."

He bit his lip; I could tell he wanted to tell me something. "I wanted to talk to you before the wedding." He says quietly.

A knock on the door interrupts our conversation. I opened the door to find my maid of honor standing there. I knew it was time to start the ceremony.

I turned back to Duane Lee; "I have to go."

Present day:

"I wish I had a chance to talk to you that day. I should have talked to you earlier I guess, but I didn't know how you would react." He tells me.

I shook my head, if I had only known that my sons adoptive parents had given up custody of him I might not have married Leland. But I did marry Leland and on the night of my wedding I saw my eight year old son for the first time since his birth. He was tall like his father; he had his hair and my eyes. He was the perfect mix of both of us.

"My knees were about to buckle as I introduced Dylan to you as his Aunt Mila. I wish someone would have just shot me and put me out of my misery; I think it would have been easier." He says, putting his hand on top of mine.

It was comforting to have that connection with him; that was until I heard a car door shut outside. I knew my husband was home.

"Leland's home." I say quickly wiping a lonely tear off my face. I couldn't show my husband any sign of being upset. "We'll talk later."


	3. Chapter 3

I met Leland at the door; he was wearing his sunglasses as usual with Jeans a tight fitting shirt and a busted lip. "What the hell happened to your lip?" I asked, surprised to see it still bloody looking.

"I got into a little fight this morning with a guy we were trying to pick up before we got on the plane to come home." He says, poking his bottom lip out so that I could touch it.

"Well, I hope you gave as good as you got, because your lip looks bad, baby." I say gingerly touching it with my finger tip.

He winked at me. "Let's just say, he won't be opening either eye for a few days. Now kiss me, but be careful."

I licked my lips in anticipation of the kiss he was leaning in for.

"Mmm, I missed you so much." He says between each kiss.

I could only smile and return each kiss, followed by a long, tight hug. Somewhere in the background I could sense that Duane Lee was moving; he cleared his throat and we broke apart.

"I hate to interrupt this little… love fest-" he says with a flip of his hand, "but I just stopped by to see how things went?"

My husband glances back at me once more before answering his brother. "Pretty good I guess, other than the fight. We caught him, that's all that matters. I thought you were sick brah?"

Duane Lee starts to bit his fingernails…a nervous habit of his. "I'm doing better." He says convincingly to Leland. "I tried to get Mila to take care of me, but she said she already had enough babies' to take care of."

We all laughed; two of us laughing more nervously than the other. I put my calm and collected face back on as the two brothers talked. I had to transition back into wife and mother mode now; Leland could never know about the conversation I had with his brother. My life and marriage would surely be over.

After twenty minutes of talking about work, Duane Lee left the house and I was finally alone with my husband, who was sitting in the oversized chair that matched our sofa.

I walked casually over to him and straddle his lap. "I'm so happy that your home now, I hate when you leave." I say pulling as stray piece of string from his shirt. He runs his hands up and down my thighs, smiling as we looked at each other.

"I hate leaving too baby, but sometimes I have to…doesn't mean I like it though." He reminds me.

"You look kinda hot with that busted lip; all wounded and vulnerable." I say stroking his bottom lip lightly with my thumb. "Which is the complete opposite of everything that you are… vulnerable I mean, not hot… you're always hot." I say rambling.

"What's wrong?" he asks sincerely, putting a hand on each of my hips. "You don't usually ramble unless you're worried about something. Were the kids bad this week? Did my brother say something to piss you off? You know you can tell me anything that's on your mind."

"No, it's nothing like that. I'm fine." I lie, with a smile on my face. Internally I was crumbling, my heart was pounding, my ears were ringing, I was short of breath, my blood was boiling…I was scared; scared that I might lose this wonderful man who was staring into my eyes, smiling from ear to ear as he slid a hand underneath my tank top.

A wicked grin comes over his face a moment later as he asks, "Have we ever had sex in this chair?"

"Only a hundred times."

"Wanna make it a hundred and one?"

"I've got a better idea." I say, pulling him out of the chair, up the stairs and into our bathroom. I reach into the shower, turning the hot water on. If there was one thing that we both enjoyed it was sex in the shower. There was something about the hot water and soapy bodies. "Let's see if we can't get you out of those clothes." I whisper in his ear.

I pulled his shirt over his head, pausing to run my hands across his firm stomach. I was so lucky to have a husband with a beautiful body. "I love your body." I say, flicking my tongue over his earlobe. He moaned, capturing my face in his hands and kissing me roughly despite his lip. I made quick work of pulling my own shirt off, revealing my breasts to him.

"Mine." he says roughly, reaching out to massage them with his hands, twisting my nipples between his fingers. We stepped into the shower together, the warm water covering our bodies as we kissed passionately; our bodies becoming one as I wrapped my legs around his waist and he lifted me up, sliding into my wetness. My back pressed hard against the tiles on the wall; he pulled my hair forcefully, making me whimper as he sucked the exposed skin of my neck.

"Leland..." I panted loudly as he moved from my neck to my nipple, sucking it between his lips. "Harder!" I commanded and was rewarded as his teeth sank into the tender nubs. We both moaned as I ran my hands through his long wet hair and pushed myself off of the wall. He sat us down on the small seat of the shower

"Ride it." he demands through clenched teeth, guiding my hips up and down; grunting with every thrust. A moment later he threw his head back against the shower, moaning my name as he came inside me.

I smiled, blissful and sated, pressing my forehead to his. "Love you."

"Mmm, love you more." he says, kissing me, dragging his teeth across my bottom lip before letting it go.

The Next Month:

Things had been going well for me, my relationship with Leland grew more and more as each day passed. I was so completely and deeply in love with my husband that I felt invincible.

I quickly learned that life had other plans in store for me.

"Mommy, I can't find my Barbie. The one with the pink dress!"

I looked up from the stove where I was making dinner. "Ask Olivia to help you find it, I'm busy right now, sweetheart." I say returning to the large pot of spaghetti I was making. The entire Chapman family would be here in less than an hour. For some unknown reason I was feeling domestic today and invited them all to dinner at our house.

"Kaiden hit me." I hear the voice of Olivia whine as she runs down the hall toward the kitchen.

"I did not. She's a liar." he yells back at his sister.

"We don't call each other liars, Kaiden. Now stop hitting your sister or you're going to your room." I remind him in that motherly tone. I didn't know what had come over my children this week; the normally peaceful days had been riddled with chaos as they fought and argued over everything little thing.

At four, Kaiden was very much like his father. Quiet and thoughtful, never raising his voice, rarely arguing with his sisters. Our six year old twins, Laney and Olivia on the other hand, had the perfect mix of both their parents; my outspoken nature and Leland's ability to start, stop or finish a fight; usually with more harm done to the other person than themselves.

"What are you troublemakers doing, I could hear you yelling from outside." Leland says, walking through the door, finally home from work, but still dressed from head to toe in his gear. He grabs Kaiden and Olivia in each arm, spinning them around. He always knew how to calm a situation down.

"Olivia, get your sister and get dressed for dinner, then help your brother get dressed. I don't want to see you back in this kitchen bothering your mother." he says, pushing them down the hall toward their rooms. "I'm coming to check on you in a few minutes, I better not find you playing in there."

I smiled to myself; He was so sexy when he was in Daddy mode.

"Hello pretty lady." he says, turning back to me, sliding his arms around my waist as I cooked. "Tell me again why my family is coming to dinner on a Thursday night?"

I turned around to face him, putting my arms around his neck. "Um... because I wanted them to?" I say with a sly smile. "I thought it would be nice to have everyone together."

"You hate when everyone is together. You say it's too noisy, our kids start misbehaving and fighting with the other kids, Duane Lee picks on you, you end up crying and then I don't get any sex for a week." he says with a serious look. "And that would be a shame because I've got a brand new pair of handcuffs just begging to be used tonight." he tells me with a wink as he pulls them off his belt, dangling them from his finger.

I look from the handcuffs to him, "Are you threatening to lock me up, Mr. Chapman?"

"No threat Ma'am. It's a promise. I'm revoking your bail"

"But I'm a good girl... Did I miss my court date?" I ask innocently, batting my eyelashes and playing along with him.

"You did." he says sternly. "Seeing as this isn't the first time you've missed court; I can't tell you how severe the punishment is for that "

"So evil..."

"More evil than you know."

"Mmm" I say biting my bottom lip.

"More like Ohhh!" he says a little louder, rolling his eyes back, pretending to have an orgasm as he pulls me closer to his body. "Feel that?" he grunts with a raise of his eyebrow. "I've been thinking about you all day." he whispers, moaning against my lips, kissing me softly.

I opened my eyes, looking over his shoulder, surprised to see his older brother standing there; watching us, arms crossed. "What are you doing here?" I ask, making Leland jump, then turn around. I knew he thought the kids must be standing there.

"Dinner." he says casually.

"You're early brah. Try knocking next time." Leland tells him. I could see the irritation on his face. It was always like Duane Lee to interrupt us. Leland turns back to me, "I'm gonna check on the kids." he mumbles flatly then walks away.

"Sorry... I just showered and came on over."

I sighed, absent mindedly stirring the Spaghetti Noodles. "I haven't seen you in weeks. Where's Dylan?"

He sits down at the counter, watching me cook. "He's with a friend. I thought it might be easier...if you didn't see him." he says, almost sadly.

Closing my eyes briefly before turning to look at him, "That's not true. I love him, Duane Lee." I turn back to dinner, furiously stirring the sauce. How dare he do this to me, tonight of all nights. The whole family was coming and my husband was ten feet down the hall.

"Yeah, as your nephew."

I throw the spoon down on the counter, splattering the sauce everywhere and turn to him, "Can we please not do this tonight. I'm in a really good mood. Don't ruin this for me!"

Another WARNING: This one contains some adult content...read at your own risk!

"Our little brats are all tucked in bed." Leland says with a laugh as he closes and locks our bedroom door later that night, tossing his shirt on the floor. "Dinner was great babe, I ate way too much."

"Thank you. I think it went pretty well, no one fought or argued. Duane Lee left me alone, and I'm not crying at the end of the night." I tell him as he sits down on the edge of the bed. Glancing at me as he sits his new black handcuffs on the nightstand.

"Want me to make you cry?" he questions, looking over his shoulder at me with a twinkle in his eye. "No- " he says thinking for a moment, "I'd rather make you beg."

"Beg?"

"Mmm, yeah, beg me not to revoke your bail." he says, reaching over to pull my night gown over my head. "I still owe you that punishment."

"And what if I decide to skip town instead?"

"You wouldn't." he says narrowing his eyes, licking his lips.

"It's very tempting... I can't let that bounty hunter catch me." I reply, biting the inside of my lip to keep from smiling. We had never role played...this was new territory for us. I wasn't too sure why it was going on, but it was. Sure, he'd threatened to handcuff me before, countless times, but he'd never actually brought them into our bedroom with the intent to use them.

"You're right. He's a bad ass son of a bitch." he says proudly.

"I've heard that about Duane Lee." I say quietly, wanting nothing more than to piss him off enough to play a little rough with me. Something we both enjoyed.

"Wrong Bounty Hunter." he says, angrily, grabbing me by the ankle, dragging me across the large bed and flipping me over onto my stomach. There were times when I forgot just what he was capable of doing.

He straddles my back as I lay there; grabbing the handcuffs from the nightstand. The soft click-click of the metal echoed through the room as he opened them.

"Let's see... do I want to make this fun for me or hard for you?" he ponders out loud to himself. "Above the head." he says pushing my arms up and pressing his warm chest to my back, "Or, behind the back?" he asks, leaning back, moving them behind me, holding one hand in each of his, softly stroking my palms with his thumbs. "There's always the possibility of one hand on each side of the headboard...yeah, I need another set of cuffs."

"I don't have all night." I reply from underneath him.

"I'm sorry; did someone tell you that you were in charge? I've got the handcuffs; you've got until I say we're finished."

My heart skipped a beat; my usually mild mannered husband was getting nasty with me. In the back of my mind I knew it was all a game, but it was new and it excited, confused and aroused me all at once.

"I don't wanna hurt you, but if you keep moving around, I'll be forced to." he taunts me, as he flips me over and puts a finger over my lips "Shut up and behave."

He brings my hands to rest on my stomach, quickly closing the handcuffs around my wrists. The cold, unforgiving steel rubbed my wrists as I struggled to even move my hands. "I thought you were the nice guy?"

"Someone lied to you; I don't take mercy on anyone." he says as he brings my hands to his lips; softly sucking one of my fingers. The swirl of his warm tongue and soft lips made me wet with anticipation. I could feel his hardness pressing against my thigh, straining to escape the jeans he was still wearing. I reached forward; both hands straining to grab the button of his jeans. I needed to feel his skin.

He slaps my hands away, pushing them above my head. Leaning over me, pushing his weight against me. "Don't. Touch. Me." he says sharply; punctuating each word.

My eyes went wide; did he mean what he said? He didn't want me to touch him...was this part of our game? A slender finger slides inside me, I moan as it reached all the right places. Throwing my head back, I pushed myself harder against his hand as he slid another finger inside.

"Like that?" he asks, as his thumb skims my clit and his teeth nibble my thigh.

I couldn't answer, I was floating. It had been so long since we had taken the time to enjoy each other. With three children, sex usually consisted of ten minutes in the shower or sometime mid-morning before the house came to life. For the past few years it had been quantity not quality that kept us going.

"Stop thinking so much." he whispers, before burying his face between my thighs. Strong hands roamed my body, roughly in some places, soft and tender in others. A kiss here, a nibble there; and he was still partially clothed.

Maybe he just wanted to torture me all night...


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning I sat up in bed, glancing over Leland to the alarm clock; it was only 5:45. I pushed the hair out of my eyes and stood up, immediately regretting that decision, I sat back down. I felt lightheaded.

Leland rolled onto his side, reaching for me as I sat back down. "What's wrong babe?" He asks, still half asleep.

I lay back down, snuggling into his embrace."I think I just stood up too fast or something. I think you wore me out last night." I say kissing him on the cheek.

"It was worth it...I wasn't too mean was I?"

"You were amazing." I whisper and kiss on the cheek again.

We both shared a laugh and fell back asleep.

Two days later I wasn't feeling much better and we were having a dinner party for Leland's Birthday. All he wanted was steak and potatoes. He was so easy to please. That afternoon I sent Daddy and his little helpers to the beach so I could get everything ready for tonight. As I pulled the steaks out of the refrigerator, my stomach clenched. I was going to throw up; and I did, barely making it to the bathroom in time.

I felt fingertips brush my neck as someone pulled my long hair back. I couldn't bother to look at the moment; I didn't think I had the strength to lift my head.

"You're pregnant aren't you?"

"No."

"This isn't the first time I've held your hair back while you puked."

"I am not pregnant." I whisper to myself. I leaned back on my knees, wiping my mouth with the wet towel he handed me and leaned into him as he sat behind me. Strong arms wrapped themselves around me, holding me even closer as I stared at patterned tile of the bathroom floor.

"Want me to cancel the dinner?" he asks, stroking my hair.

I leaned into his chest, closing my eyes. "No, I can't do that. I'll be fine...promise me you won't say anything to Leland."

He sighs, "I thought he wanted another one. At least that's what he's been telling me for the last few months."

Duane Lee was right; his brother did want another child. But I didn't. I couldn't fathom the thought of one more child running around this house, with the three that we already had. I saw it as another mouth to feed and another diaper to change.

"Let me help you up." he says, pulling both of us to our feet. "Get a drink of water, and let's go face the world." He says touching my face tenderly.

I managed a smile and followed him out of the bathroom. I felt relieved that he had come to my rescue and not my husband. Leland would have been celebrating and I couldn't begin to think about that. My mood had changed from happiness to sadness in a matter of minutes; maybe no one would notice.

And no one did, not for two more months. I visited my doctor and confirmed that I was indeed pregnant, again. I sat in my car staring at the first sonogram pictures of our child... the one I had yet to tell my husband about. Although he had asked several times if something was going on, telling me I looked pale and tired; I blamed it on the stress of having three children to raise. He bought that story...for now.

There was a message on my phone from Duane Lee, asking me to meet him for lunch; he was the only person that knew what was going on. Ten minutes later I was sitting across from him having pizza.

"Did you get a sonogram picture?" he whispers leaning across the table. There were so many people on this small Island that knew us that we couldn't risk letting anyone overhear our conversation.

Reaching into my purse, I pulled the two pictures out and handed them across the table to my brother-in-law. "I'm right at three months. Dr. Jones said everything looked fine... I wish I felt fine about this." I say sipping my water.

He studied the pictures thoughtfully, as if looking at his own child. It made me smile as it brought back so many memories of my teenage years. Back then he was thrilled about my pregnancy, he wanted nothing more than to be a father. I, on the other hand, was hanging on the edge of a cliff, ready to let go at any moment. At one point he tried to convince me to keep Dylan; telling me that we could raise him together; who knows what life would be like now if he had gotten his wish.

The noise in the restaurant was growing; I don't know why he wanted to meet here, probably because it was so close to work and he was only able to be out for an hour. The pizza place was nothing but a tourist spot, people everywhere were taking pictures. I was praying that no one would notice Duane Lee sitting there.

A few days had passed and I had hidden the sonogram pictures in my car; a place Leland would never look. I busied myself cleaning the house and getting ready for Christmas when I heard the front door slam shut.

"Mila! Mila where are you?" he yelled again "Mila get the fuck in here! Right now!"

I stood frozen as Leland yelled for me...he had never cussed me; never raised his voice to me... I was scared to move.

"I know you're in this fucking house. Don't make me fucking look for you!"

"I'm right here, damn, give a girl a minute. What's wrong with you?" I asked walking into the living room. I took a deep breath; he was holding something in his hand.

"This is what's wrong!" He yells, throwing a copy of the National Enquirer down on our table.

I thought my eyes were going to fall out as I stared at a very large picture of myself with Duane Lee as I showed him my sonogram picture at the restaurant. The headline read: Trouble in Paradise? Is Bounty Hunter Duane Lee Chapman his sister-in-laws Baby Daddy?"

I sank down in the sofa as my husband yelled at me; partially listening to his rant as I stared at the picture.

"How long? ... Behind my fucking back...so embarrassed...our children...are you listening to me?...married for seven years...are you unhappy? I'm so ashamed Mila." he yells one last time.

He had this all wrong, he was the father. I opened my mouth to talk, but he crossed his arms, silently shutting me up as he sat down next to me. I looked to my right, my husband of seven years was crying; I had only seen him cry twice; once when the girls were born and then again when Kaiden came along. I could only imagine what he must be feeling inside and it was all my fault.

"Listen, baby- " I try saying, but he interrupts.

"Don't fucking baby me Mila...I'm sure that's what you call my brother too; right?"

I pulled my hand back, slapping him as hard as I could across the face. "Are you finished? I'd like to speak!"

My hands were trembling as he sat there holding his cheek; still in shock. I felt horrible inside but it was the only way I could get his attention. "I am not pregnant with Duane Lee's baby. I haven't slept with him. This baby -" I say rubbing my growing stomach. "Is yours Leland... only yours, no one else. There's not even a remote possibility that it could be his."

"What?" he asks confused as he picks up the paper. "Explain this!" he says tossing it at me.

"The day of your birthday when everyone was over for dinner and you had taken the kids to the beach; I got sick, I threw up and your brother just happened to be there. So, I made him promise not to tell anyone. Not even you."

"You knew you were pregnant the night of my birthday and you didn't tell me? Why?"

"Because I don't want another child, Leland. I struggle with the three we have! I wish you could understand that."

He just shakes his head, back and forth for a few minutes, never saying a word. I knew he didn't believe me. The picture did look deceiving, but I knew the truth. "You know what, since the kids will be at your dad's this weekend, maybe we should spend that time apart."

"Fine."

"Fine! I'll be back Sunday." I yell, grabbing the gossip magazine and storming out of the house.

Before I knew it I was standing outside of Duane Lee's house, raising my hand to knock on the door. It was getting late; I was praying he was still awake. I knocked lightly and waited; after a minute the door swung open revealing Dylan.

"Dylan." I say quietly putting my hand over my heart. No matter how many times I saw him; there wasn't a word to describe the feeling of seeing your first child.

"Hey Aunt Mila, come in." He says with the smile he got from his father. "Dad's in bed already, guess he had a long day today." he says laughing lightly.

"Thanks, I need to talk to him for a minute."

He smiles again, closing the door behind us. "Okay...goodnight then, I'm headed to bed myself. Love you, Aunt Mila."

"Love you too sweetie." I whisper; watching him walking to his room. There were times when I wondered if he did know; wondered what he might think if I told him. I couldn't think about that right now, I needed to prepare Duane for the backlash of this picture.

I slowly opened the bedroom door, peeking my head inside, he was lying on his stomach, arms tucked under his pillow, and the covers barely covering those important parts.I let out a long breath and walked toward the bed. He looked so peaceful; I hated to wake him.

I sat down on the side of the bed, turning toward him; reaching out I lightly touched his arm. He stirred and moaned. "Duane Lee." I whispered softly, laying my hand on his bicep. "Duane Lee, wake up."

He slowly opened his eyes, "Mila? What are you doing here? Is everything alright?" he asks, sitting up in the bed, clutching the covers to his waist as he turned the bedside lamp on.

I started to cry, clenching the magazine in my hands as I handed it to him. "Leland hates me." I say, crying like a baby.

"Calm down, stop crying." He says, sweetly pushing my hair back off my shoulder. "I'm so sorry. It's my fault; we shouldn't have met there... I just didn't think about it. I'm sorry." he says staring at the magazine; repeating the apology again and again.

"I tried to explain it to him, but he didn't believe me, I could see it in his eyes." I say, sadly. "I should have told him up front what was going on, but I couldn't. I don't love this baby Duane Lee... I don't want it."

"Why don't you try to get some rest tonight. We can talk about everything tomorrow."

I mumble an "Okay."

"I've got some old t-shirts. You can wear one to sleep in, if you wanna change in the bathroom I'll bring you one."

Duane Lee's POV:

I was beyond pissed at my brother. I knew that he loved his wife, more than he could ever love anyone; he knew that she wouldn't betray him in that way. Granted, the picture was very deceiving as were the quotes in the magazine, but Mila and I knew the truth.

I waited until she closed the bathroom door to get out of bed; I always slept naked. Opening a random drawer I pulled out a very old football t-shirt that I had been holding onto from High School, it should fit her just right. I slid on some boxers and knocked on the bathroom door. She opened it a crack and I handed over the shirt.

I had just laid back down when she walked out of the bathroom. I smiled, probably more than I should have, considering my sister-in-law was about to climb into my bed; she was beautiful and glowing like any pregnant woman should. Leland was stupid if he couldn't see it.

The t-shirt rested at the top of her thighs, just long enough, yet short enough that it left little to the imagination. I always thought there was something sexy about a woman wearing your clothes; Mila proved that tonight as she slid into bed with me, pulling the covers up to her waist.

Yawning she says, "I told Leland that we should spend the weekend apart."

I bit my tongue to keep from smiling, I knew it was wrong, but I prayed that she would stay with me the entire time. Dylan was going out of town with a few friends tomorrow; it would be the perfect opportunity for us to be together. I didn't want to ruin her marriage; I only wanted to show her that there were other options available.

Hours later as we both slept, a smooth, warm leg slid between my legs as I slept on my side; Mila was wrapping herself around me, spooning me from behind as she slept; her left hand resting between my hip and leg, her right flung above our heads, occasionally playing with my hair in her sleep. After a long period of having no contact from a woman, I was in heaven, I lay awake for a while trying my best to be still, willing her not to let go of me.

When I woke up the next morning I was practically lying on top of Mila, my leg was thrown across her hips and half my chest lay on top of hers. Our faces were mere centimeters from one another as our heads rested on the same pillow. I smiled briefly, my cheek brushing hers as I did, causing her to stir in her sleep and smile back. If we kept this up, I wouldn't be letting her go back home; it felt too good to wake up with her in my arms.

I gently pushed a few stray hairs away from her eyes, and petted her smooth cheek with the back of my thumb. She gave me an appreciative moan and scooted closer to me, burying her head in my chest. I didn't care if she slept until noon, I wasn't moving until she woke up.

Thirty minutes later there was a light knock on my bedroom door and Dylan stuck his head in with a confused look on his face. "Dad?"

I put a finger to my lips, telling him to be quiet. He walked closer, just to confirm his suspicion that Mila was in fact in my bed.

"It's nice to see my parents are finally in the same bed together."

I had always been open and honest with Dylan. He'd known for many years that Mila was his mother. He told me that he had no ill will toward her and that he understood she was only sixteen when he was born. We made a promise to each other that it would never be mentioned; especially to his mother.

"It's not what you think Dylan." I tried my best to assure him. "Mila had a really rough night last night. She needed a shoulder to cry on."

He nods, sitting down on the side of my bed, looking at his mother. "She's beautiful dad, I know why you love her so much. In a completely selfish way, I wish she would have married you." he says sadly.

"Me too, son... me too." I say, whispering as I watched her sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Mila's POV:

I woke up around 11:00 the next morning to find a note waiting for me on the nightstand. "Good morning, sleeping beauty! Dad called us into work won't be gone long. Make yourself at home. Love, DL. I smiled, sitting the note back down and climbed out of bed. Twenty minutes later I had showered and put my jeans back on with Duane's old t-shirt; It was soft and comfortable from years of wear.

I wondered how Leland's day might be going, I wondered if he knew I was here...hopefully he and his brother weren't fighting at work. That was the last thing either of us needed.

Duane Lee's POV:

Glancing at my watch, I sighed; It was much later than I had planned on being home. I wanted to spend the day with Mila; as usual life had other plans for me. I walked into the kitchen expecting to find her somewhere near, but she wasn't. I opened the oven; Lasagna...she had cooked dinner and my favorite meal on top of that.

"Mila where are you?"

"I'm in the laundry room." She yells back.

I found her bent over the washer, pulling clothes out. I was tempted to grab her ass, give it a good slap but I stopped myself; that wasn't what she needed right now. If I wanted my plan to work, I had to do things the right way this time around. "You're doing my laundry?" I ask with a laugh.

She turns around; smiling at me. "It needed to be done. I've also cleaned your bathroom and changed your sheets."

"You didn't have to do that. You should have just relaxed today."

"Sorry, I'm a mom, I can't help it."

"Laundry and Lasagna? What would I do without you?" I ask, leaning in to kiss her on the forehead, before walking off. "You're the best, babe." I yell over my shoulder as I walk down the hall to take a shower. Ten minutes later when I walked into the kitchen, freshly showered Mila had dinner waiting on me.

"A man could get use to this." I say as I pull out a chair for her. "I can't tell you the last time I even had a home cooked meal...must have been Leland's birthday." I say laughing and taking a bite of the delicious, hot Lasagna she has just placed on my plate. "This is so good." I saw with my mouth full.

She laughs; rolling her eyes at me and sips her water. "I'm glad you like it. It's my grandmothers recipe, I haven't made it in ages; Leland doesn't like it."

"Fuck Leland." I say with a flip of the hand, taking another bite. I see a faint smile appear on her lips. "What?"

"Oh nothing... you just reminded me of a dream I had about us a while back."

I looked up, surprised, "About us?" This was interesting.

"Yeah." she says blushing. "Incidentally, I think that was the night I got pregnant...You, uh...came on to me in the pool, in my dream, we were kissing... you see where I'm headed with this." she says, ducking her head, trying her best not to look at me.

I took her hand, "I'm flattered." I whisper as she looks up.

"You're only flattered that I was horny when I woke up after dreaming about you." she says giggling.

She was right. What man wouldn't want to hear that the object of his affection woke up horny after dreaming of him? And to know she made love to my brother while thinking of me was icing on my cake! A moment later a vibrating cell phone brought me out of my daze.

"Sorry." Mila mumbles pulling it from her pocket. "Leland is texting me. He wants to know where I am."

"Tell him to kiss your ass" I say with a smirk.

"He's texting crazy shit... I think he's drunk." Mila tells me; a confused look appears on her face.

"That's not like him." I reply, taking the phone from her. A text came through; I opened it and read it out loud, 'Beautiful like an angel.' "What the hell does that mean?" I ask looking at Mila, who shrugs her shoulders.

"The last one said, "Taking my clothes off.' I don't know what he's doing... just turn my phone off. If he's drunk I don't want any part of it."

The rest of the evening went on without incident. We watched a few movies and enjoyed each other's company. I looked down at Mila who had her head in my lap. Her eyes were getting heavier as she struggled to stay awake. "Wanna get in bed?" I ask, running my fingers through her silky hair.

"I'm alright." she says while yawning.

"Could have fooled me... you look sleepy." I saw leaning my head over hers. "Thank you for everything today; the laundry and dinner. I owe you."

She smiles faintly and nods her head. "Kiss me and we'll call it even."

Without hesitation my lips found hers; gently I kissed her as she stared into my eyes. Suddenly I was nineteen and kissing her for the first time. Moments later I pulled back, looking at her big brown eyes as she gave me a lopsided grin.

"You still have the best lips." She whispers, a slight blush creeping into her cheeks. "Now I'm ready for bed."

Mila's POV:

The next morning I left Duane Lee's house and stopped by to pick the kids up along with Leland's boys. Dakota was close to Dylan's age and Cobie was in between him and the twins. It always made for interesting times at home.

"Whose car is that?" Dakota asks from the passenger seat as I pulled into the drive way.

"I have no idea." I reply, as I stared at the red sports car sitting in our driveway. "Can you take the kids into the playroom and keep an eye on them while I see what your dad is up to."

I climbed the stairs to our bedroom slowly, almost fearful of what I was walking into to. I always held my husband in the highest regard when it came to our family and our marriage, but this little red car had me questioning everything I thought about Leland. Gently, I opened the door and there they were; in our bed, naked. I clutched my heart as a sharp pain shot throughout it; my husband was in bed with another woman. All of the sudden the texts from the night before made sense. 'Taking my clothes off. Beautiful like an angel.' He was telling me what he was doing. Bastard.

"What the hell is going on?" I scream at the top of my lungs. They both sat straight up in the bed. Leland looking wide-eyed.

"Are you surprised to find me here?" I ask, hands on hips. "Who the hell are you? And why the hell are you in my bed with my husband?"

Leland jumps out of the bed as he starts to open his mouth, but I interrupt, "I didn't direct the question toward you, did I?" I scream in his general direction. The blonde climbs out of bed, getting dressed as quickly as she could. "Oh, you're not going anywhere until I get some answers, bitch."

"Mila..."

"Don't touch me!" I say through clenched teeth as he reaches out to me. I back away from him and out of the bedroom. The two of them were walking with me; the blonde was getting closer and closer to me.

"Mila... it was a mistake; baby, please... please I'm sorry." he says over and over again.

"I'm not sorry." the other girl says interrupting; trying to get in the middle of our argument.

The fight was quickly escalating as the three of us took turns verbally sparring at one another. Knowing my children could hear every word that was being said broke my heart. "Get out of my house!"

"I don't have to go anywhere." the bitch says with an attitude as she shoves me. "Leland wants me here."

I turned around, slapping her with as much force as I could manage. The two of us were in a cat fight; Leland trying his best to keep us apart as we argued. Without any warning she pushed Leland, who stumbled and lost his grip on my arm as we stepped on to the top step of the staircase. Before I knew it, I was tumbling and sliding down the stairs. I hit the bottom as a searing pain shot through my stomach and back.

I tried opening my eyes, but couldn't. Faintly, I could hear someone yelling, 'Call 911.' Leland's voice was intertwining with the voice of our children who were crying out to me.

My world went black.


	6. Chapter 6

Duane Lee's POV:

For two days I sat in the hard plastic chair of the Hospital's waiting room; I had managed to sleep for an hour here and an hour there. Mostly I just stared at my brother. He was the reason we were here. Whether he meant to or not, he pushed his wife down those stairs and for that I could never forgive him.

"I wish you would stop fucking staring at me." he says from across the room.

"I wish you wouldn't have put Mila in the hospital." I reply, crossing my arms.

"Mr. Chapman?" a doctor asks, closing the waiting room door behind him. My brother and I both stood up.

"Mila is awake now. She's still very weak. But she's asking to see - " he hesitates, glancing down at the chart. "Duane Lee?" he says, looking back up. I smirk at my brother and follow the doctor to Mila's room where he leaves me alone with her. Sitting down in the chair next to her bed, she looked so fragile just lying there hooked up to all those machines. She raised her head to look at me; trying her best to manage a smile.

"Hi Princess." I say, stroking her hair.

"I lost the baby." she says weakly as tear after tear run down her cheeks. "God is punishing me because I didn't love it."

"No...no, not at all. What happened wasn't your fault." I tell her, trying my best to comfort her. I bit down hard on the inside of my lip to keep my own tears from coming, so much so that I could taste the coppery tang of blood. I wanted to be here for Mila; be strong in her time of need.

"I shouldn't have kept a secret from Leland. I should have told him, none of this would have happened. I'm a bad wife and mother."

"You're none of those things Mila. I can assure you of that...listen; you don't have to figure everything out right now. Just get some rest and when you get out of here we can put this puzzle back together."

I stand up next to the bed; I didn't want to stay too long. "I'll always be here for you Mila. I love you."

A week later Mila was able to come home; because the stairs were carpeted she only suffered minor injuries and a concussion from the impact. The loss of an unborn child, however, was something entirely different; I didn't know if she would ever recover from that.

"I've got most everything packed." Leland tells us as he comes down the stairs holding a large box. Mila nods her head; she couldn't even look him in the eye. They decided it would be best if they separated for a while. He was able to rent an apartment not far from the house; he would still be close to the kids that way.

"I'll be by on Friday night to pick the kids up..."

Mila nods again; still staring at her hands, turning her wedding ring around and around her finger. I knew her heart was breaking; she loved my brother more than she could ever love herself. The front door closes and she lets out a shaky breath.

"Do you know what I want to do this weekend when he picks the kids up?"

"What?" I ask carefully, almost afraid of what might come out of her mouth.

"I want to get drunk. So drunk I can't see straight. I don't want to be able to stand up at the end of the night."

"You know what?" I say, sitting down next to her "I can handle that request. I will be your personal bartender...whatever you want; Duane Lee will make you." I say with a big smile.

Read more: thread/136/tangled-web?page=3#ixzz3CBDe4MFs

Leland's POV:

I slowly climbed the stairs to my new apartment; my heart was breaking with every step I took. Propping a box on my leg, I tried to open the door with my other hand. After several attempts I gave up, throwing the box down.

"Oh let me show you the trick to opening these stupid doors." A warm voice says from behind me. She takes the key from my hand and pulls the door, turning the key at the same time. "There you go..." she says handing me the key.

"I'm Amy. I love across the hall from you."

"Oh...I'm Leland." I say extending my hand to shake hers. She was beautiful; there was no denying that, she had long brown hair and eyes that would light up the night sky.

"Need some help with your boxes?" She asks politely.

"I don't have that many, but if you don't mind, I would appreciate it." I tell her. For the next few hours Amy helped me move in and unpack my boxes. I learned that she had move to Hawaii from England a few months ago to start a new life.

Starting a new life seemed to be the new thing to do.

Saturday Night:

Duane Lee's POV:

I was making Mila's fourth fruity drink of the night; I was on my third beer, she was giggly and I was becoming overly loving and touchy.

"Duane..." she calls in that sing song voice from the living room. "I'm thirsty." She says giggling like a little girl.

"I'm coming silly girl." I say handing over the drink as I sat down closer to her than I probably should.

"I'm hot." she says fanning herself.

"Yeah you are." I say, leaning into her, making her laugh even more. "Why don't you take some of those clothes off..." I whisper as I slide the strap of her tank top off her shoulder, kissing it softly.

"You are a bad, bad boy." she says looking up at me, biting her bottom lip. Another giggle escapes her pouty lips.

"I want to kiss you." I whisper, as I slide the other strap of her tank top off.

"Kiss me right here." she says pointing to her neck. "Mmm" she moans as I lean in, placing a soft kiss in the spot she directed me too. "Now," she says, licking her lips; "Get me the tequila, some limes, and the salt..."

"Body shots." we say at the same time.

We made our way to the bedroom; I pushed her gently down on the bed. "Oh.. you like to play rough." she whispers, pulling her tank top off, revealing a hot pink lacy bra.

I let out a shaky breath, licking my lips.

"Me first!" She smiles and pulls me down onto the bed and comes to straddle my waist. Her cool hands slide underneath my shirt, across my stomach and up to my chest. A wicked grin comes over her face. "We need to get you out of this shirt." she moans.

I did as I was told and removed my t-shirt. A look of satisfaction shown on her face as she reached for the salt, tequila and wedge of lime from the nightstand. Lowering her head, she licked a trail from my stomach to the base of my neck and sprinkled the salt across it. I bit my bottom lip in anticipation of having her tongue trailing across my body again.

Grabbing the bottle by the neck she takes a long drink before licking the salt off my chest and squeezing the lime in her mouth. "Ah...That was everything I wanted it to be." She says triumphantly.

I sat up, pulling her body to mine as she straddled me. I licked the valley between her breasts, sprinkled the salt and repeated the process of taking a shot. "And that was everything I wanted it to be." I moan, leaning in to lick her salty skin once more. She wraps her long legs around my waist and leans in to kiss me forcefully on the lips, grabbing a hand full of my hair in each hand.

"I forgot how much I liked you." she murmurs in my ear before nibbling my earlobe.

Her body was smooth; soft as my hands roamed and rediscovered all the hidden treasures she offered. My right hand slips under her bra, massaging her breast, pinching and twisting her hard nipple. Throwing her head back in appreciation, her long brown hair brushes my thighs making me harder than I already was. As easy as it would be to take advantage of her drunken state, I promised myself I would take my time; I wanted us both to be sober and clear headed.

Read more: thread/136/tangled-web?page=3#ixzz3CBDgmNCK

The next morning:

Leland's POV:

I was getting the kids ready to go back home when there was a light knock on my door. I swung it open and Amy, my next door neighbor was standing there. "Good Morning." I say, smiling at her.

"Hi... I'm so sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you were going into town today? My car broke down and I need to get some groceries, would you mind giving me a ride?" she asks.

I smiled, more than I should have; I really couldn't help it, she was beautiful. "I don't mind at all, if you don't mind going with me to drop my kids off?"

"Oh, you have kids?" she asks surprised.

"Yeah, I've got three... well five really."

She laughs, looking a little confused, "Which is it? Three or five? Or is it that there's so many it seems like five?"

"It's five." I say with a laugh. "I've got a fourteen year old son, nine year old son, two six year old twin girls and a four year old boy." I tell her, trying my best not to leave one out.

"Wow. Sounds like a house full"

"It's not too bad really... my wife stays home while I work. I owe a lot of credit to her."

She looks slightly disappointed. "You're married?" she asks, trying to play it off.

"Separated." I reply, slightly disappointed myself. I loved Mila, but my mind and heart weren't cooperating with each other and I didn't know what to think about everything that had happened between us lately.

"Daddy, do we have to go? Can we stay with you?" a small voice says behind me. I turned around to find Kaiden standing there, looking up at me with those big brown eyes.

I turned to Amy, "Sorry." I whisper, turning back to Kaiden, I picked him up introducing him to my new neighbor.

"Laney, Olivia, get your bags it's time to go." I yelled over my shoulder a moment later.

"My girls" I say patting them on the head as they clung to my side, wrapping their arms around my legs; staring up at Amy.

"Hi girls, I'm Amy, I live next door to your dad."

The girls didn't say a word; they just clung tighter to my legs. I knew they were old enough to understand what was happening between their parents, that hurt me more than anything. "We're gonna give Miss Amy a ride to the store."

Fifteen minutes after leaving the apartment I pulled into the driveway of my house, my brother's car was sitting there. I shook my head but didn't say anything out loud. "Come on kiddos, let's get you inside."

Amy helps me get the three kids and their things out of the car and into the house. I opened the door with my key and found my brother standing in the kitchen, drinking coffee in his boxers. Amy glanced at me, raising her eyebrows, new to my situation she knew something wasn't right about that. "Can you show Miss Amy your bedrooms while I find mommy." I say pushing the girls toward their room.

"What are you doing here brah?" I asked as I started up the stairs to my former bedroom.

"Why are you bringing another woman here brah?" he asks sarcastically as I reached the top of the stairs.

I opened the bedroom door to find a huge mess; an empty tequila bottle lying on its side, limes and a shaker of salt lying next to it on the nightstand and Mila passed out in the bed. She was laying sideways, her hair fanned out to each side, still wearing a hot pink bra. I couldn't bring myself to lift the cover to see if she was wearing panties.

I ran a hand through my hair and sat down on the side of the bed. She mumbled something and rolled over, facing me. I reached out, pushing her hair away from her eyes; my heart skipped a beat knowing my brother had just gotten out of my bed with my wife.

"Mila." I say, shaking her shoulder. "Wake up."

She groaned and opened one eye, staring up at me. "Leland?"

"I came by to bring the kids home."

"Oh, okay." she says taking in a long, deep breath.

She slowly sat up, pushing her hair back. She looked rough; tiny blue bruises were forming on her chest, a few bite marks trailed along her neck. It made me sick to my stomach to imagine what might have gone on between them.

"What the hell happened in here last night?" I ask, picking up the empty liquor bottle.

"Um...tequila shots..lots of drinking. That's about all I remember." she says weakly; pulling the sheets over her chest. "Let me get dressed and I'll meet you downstairs."


	7. Chapter 7

Mila's POV:

I felt like hell as I struggled to remain in a sitting position; I know that I had asked to be drunk out of my mind because I wanted to forget my troubles, but they seemed to still be there when I woke up the next morning in the name of my husband; Leland.

Somehow I managed to slide a pair of jeans on and Duane Lee's t-shirt I had kept from the night I slept at his house. If anything, it would piss Leland off seeing his brother's name in bold letters on the back of the shirt his wife was wearing. I put my hair up on top of my head in a messy bun and walked slowly down the stairs. When I got to the bottom I noticed a woman standing next to Leland in my living room. I stood there staring as she interacted with my husband; glancing over to the kitchen I saw Duane Lee staring at me, still in his boxers sipping a cup of coffee. He looked as surprised as I did.

"Hi, I'm Amy." She says extending her hand for me to shake.

"Mila." I reply, trying to stay upright, the alcohol was still taking its toll on me.

"I'm giving Amy a ride to the store... she lives next door to me; in the uh... in the apartments." Leland says nervously.

It was an awkward situation to say the least as Duane Lee walked behind me and back up stairs. I stood there biting my lip and Leland glanced between me and his new friend, Amy.

"That's nice." I finally reply, crossing my was always one to make friends quickly so it was no surprise to see one standing here. If that's all she was.

Read more: thread/136/tangled-web?page=4#ixzz3CBDkYAGT

Three Weeks Later:

Leland's POV:

Mila walked into the office with our children in tow; she looked tired as she told them to sit down on the couch and behave. Beth approached her and hugged her tightly, no matter what was going on between us she was still a huge part of my family.

"Honey, are you sick, you look so pale?" Beth asks, leaning back to take a good look at her, inspecting her like any mother would their own child.

Mila tucks her hair behind her ear and smiles; "Oh, I'm fine Beth. Just tired, you know how it is with all the kids running around."

They share a laugh and Beth tells her, "Take it easy this weekend while Leland has them."

She did look pale, her eyes were sunk in and dark circles were starting to form underneath them. She wasn't taking care of herself, that much I knew. I pulled my brother aside; as much as it hurt me to ask him how my wife was, he was the person that was the closest to her right now.

"I don't know what's going on with her. I've tried to call her several times; tried to stop by and see her... she keeps telling me she's busy. So I don't know..." he says with a shrug of his shoulders.

I decided to take matters into my own hands, asking Beth to watch the kids while I walked my wife to her car. I opened the door, still trying to be a gentleman, no matter how many mistakes I've made here recently. "Mila, what's going on?" I ask, standing between the her and the car door as she sat down.

"Nothing, I'm fine." she says forcing a smile.

"You look exhausted. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Leland, I'm fine. Can I please go now?" she says as I step back, giving her room to close the door. She doesn't say another word as she drives away.

Duane Lee's POV:

By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around I'd had enough. After calling Mila every couple of hours I decided I would just go by her house and let myself in. Walking up the stairs to her bedroom, I noticed all the kids clothes piled up in the hall. There were toys scattered here and there; the house was a mess.

Opening the bedroom door, the curtains were closed casting a sad darkness over the normally bright room. "Mila." I say walking toward the bed. "Are you still in bed? Its 1:30 in the afternoon." I say sitting down on the bed beside her.

"So."

"So, get up."

"Don't want to." she tells me as she rolls away from me. "Leave me alone."

I sighed, shaking my head. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong with you. You've been avoiding me; ignoring my phone calls...you never do that."

She pushed the cover away from her and sat up. Her hair was dirty and oily looking, her eyes and cheeks were sunk in; she looked awful. "Baby, what is wrong with you?"

She looks into my eyes and starts to cry. "I don't know. I've just gotten to the point where I don't care anymore. My marriage is over, Leland's seeing that Amy girl, I'm lonely and I hate my life. "

"Baby, it's not that bad, I promise." I say picking up her hand and holding it gently. "Let's get you into the shower and maybe you'll feel a little better." I suggested, trying to pull her out of the bed. Reluctantly she follows me into the bathroom. I turn the water on and step back. "I'll leave you alone while you shower."

"Don't leave...please." she whispers sadly.

I sat down on the side of the bathtub as she showered. My heart was breaking; I'd never seen her this way before. "Have you talked to Leland lately?" I ask over the running water.

"No."

"Why not? Don't you want to work things out?"

"I don't know... I can't look at him without crying. And he has Amy..."

"That girl that came to the house with him?" That was the first I'd heard of them being an item. It got me to thinking... if Leland had moved on; would it be so bad if I made my move on Mila?

"Yeah, she's the one. She's beautiful and from England...and I'm just plain and boring and from Colorado. I suck." Turning off the water, she steps out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her wet body.

I caught a glimpse of a tattoo on her hip. "Come here." I say pulling her by the arm toward me. "Is that a tattoo on your hip?"

She blushes, pulling towel aside so that I could see her hip. "Oh my God, you have my brothers badge tattooed on your hip." I say with a laugh, not believing what I was seeing. "Kinky bitch"

Pulling to towel back over her hip she says, "It says Chapman... not Leland."

"Well then...can't believe he talked you into that."

"Every time he got a tattoo, he wanted me to get one too...he loves women with tattoo's. Why do you think he likes Amy...she's has two or three that I could see. Who knows what's lurking under her clothes."

I put my arm around her shoulder, walking her out of the bathroom. "Now, don't be mean...she might be a very nice girl." I say smirking.

"A nice girl? She stole my husband!"

"She didn't steal him...He slept with another woman and then he left; remember." I remind her, knowing it would hurt her. But at the moment that's what I wanted, to break her down just a little, so I could be her hero. It was wrong, I knew that much; but I wouldn't let it stop me.

"So what do I do? I don't have a job, I don't have a college education, I don't have any means to raise our children."

I sat down on her bed, pulling her down beside me. "Do you honestly think that Leland would let his children go without?"

"No." she says defeated.

"Don't worry about the money part of it. No matter how stupid my brother is, he wouldn't let you starve or go homeless. And neither would I."

Read more: thread/136/tangled-web?page=4#ixzz3CBDnIEsa

Three Months Later:

Mila's POV:

Three months later not much had changed in my life. Leland however, didn't have a problem moving on... or moving in with Amy to a larger apartment. I pretended like it didn't bother me, but inside I was dying. Thankfully Duane Lee was there to help me. I wasn't stupid; I knew what he was after. I just didn't know if I could put myself in that position again.

I was happy that Leland had the kids for the entire week; the girls were out for spring break so I sent them and Kaiden packing to visit Daddy.

As I settled myself on the couch, I picked up the paperwork from the table and stared at it; Mila Noel Chapman vs. Leland Blaine Chapman. I couldn't believe I had actually filed. Now all that was left to do was serve Leland and we would be divorced.

I heard my front door open and looked up to see Duane Lee standing there. We'd gotten so comfortable with each other we didn't bother knocking anymore. "Hi sunshine." I say laughing as he stood there still dressed in his work clothes.

He had this look of pure joy on his face. I knew the look well; Leland had come home many nights with that same look. He'd caught someone big. It was the thrill of the bust; he was running on pure adrenaline. Nothing could stop him.

"Who'd you catch?" I ask turning around on the couch, facing him as he stood behind it.

"Kimo Luna." he says happily. "How did you know I caught someone?" he says coming around the side of the couch and sitting down next to me.

"Baby, I've been married to a Bounty Hunter for a long time. I've seen that look more times that I can remember. It usually lead to some really hot sex...gotta work off that adrenaline somehow." I say laughing and patting him on the leg.

"Well, if that's what you want..." he says leaning in to kiss me on the cheek, before moving to whisper in my ear."I do have a lot of adrenaline flowing...would hate to let this high go to waste."

"Um... well, as lovely as that sounds..." I say nervously; pushing him off of me.

"You don't think Leland ran home to Amy and threw himself on her? Do you think she pushed him away?" he replies, almost angrily.

I didn't know what to think. It wasn't like we were dating or living together for that matter. "Why are you getting mad?"

"Because, I try and I try and you keep pushing me away. All I want is to love you Mila." he says leaning back on the couch, running a hand through his hair. The adrenaline high all but forgotten as we fought.

"You know what." I say standing up in front of him. "Screw it." I yell, pulling my shirt over my head and then my jeans. I stood before him in nothing but my panties and bra. "Let's do it." I say, looking down at him.

"Well, that's not much of a turn on." he says, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, I'm pissed off right now. My marriage is ending, Leland is living with Amy... and I got the divorce papers in the mail today; I have to take them to Leland and I don't know how he's going to react. So, I'm sorry if I don't feel like having sex with you right now!" I scream before walking off.

Duane Lee's POV:

I didn't know what to think. I came over to see Mila hoping she would be open to starting something with me; but I was wrong... way wrong. I sighed and pushed myself off the couch, following her into her room. I found her standing in the bathroom, swallowing some sort of pill.

"What are you taking?" I ask, concerned. The last thing I wanted was for her to be popping pills.

"Nothing." she says brushing my shoulder as she walked past me.

I picked up the empty pill bottle; it had no label, no name, nothing to indicate what it was. "Mila, what are you taking? Is it your prescription?"

"Don't worry about it Duane. Damn, can't you just leave me alone?"

"Fine, I'm gone. Don't call me when something happens to you." I yell over my shoulder as I leave her sitting on the bed.

Amy's POV:

Leland walked through the door, a smile stretching from ear to ear. "Welcome home." I say kissing him softly on the lips. "Why are you smiling so... big?" I say laughing.

"We caught a guy that we've been chasing for over six months." he says happily as he pulls me into a passionate kiss. I smiled, my world felt like more of a fairy tale than real life. But I wasn't complaining, I was only wondering how long it would last before he went back to his wife. Yes, I knew it was wrong to live with another man while he was still married but they had been separated for a while now and he didn't seem to have a problem with that.

"My babies in bed already?" he asks, taking off his bullet proof vest. Apparently he was so excited about the catch that he drove home in all his gear. I didn't mind that, it was sexy.

"All tucked in and sleeping like ...babies!" I say giggling. I follow him in to the bathroom as he finishes getting undressed. I smiled thinking about how far we'd come in the past few months; from being neighbors to living together. It was almost too good to be true.

"What are you think thinking about?" he asks, wrapping his arms around my waist as I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked up, seeing him standing naked behind me; I blushed, still trying to get used to being so open with a man.

"Just thinking about us. It all seems surreal."

He smiles, kissing me on the shoulder and says, "Don't think so much. Just enjoy what we have."


	8. Chapter 8

"Hi" I say quietly, looking down at my feet; "I need to see Leland." I tell Amy as she opens the door to their apartment.

She opens the door wider and allows me to step inside.

"The kids are down for a nap. We were at the beach most of the day." She says almost uneasily.

I knew that once she and I met it would be awkward, but this was beyond what I imagined. I bit the inside of my lip to keep from crying or saying something I would regret. "I have to be strong", I reminded myself over and over in my head.

Amy disappeared into their shared bedroom and came back a moment later with Leland following behind her. He smiled briefly, as did I. But it quickly faded…

"Is there somewhere we could talk, alone?" I asked him, holding up the envelope with our divorce papers inside.

Without saying a word to Amy he motioned for me to follow him outside. We walked silently, slowly to the small playground behind their apartment.

"Are those the divorce papers?" he asked as he picked up the envelope.

I nodded as my heart beat sped up. This was harder than I had imagined. Once again, I bit the inside of my lip as he read through the small stack of paper. The coppery tang of blood covered my tongue as I bit harder, I would rather bleed than let him see me cry.

"I guess it's all in order… I don't really know." He says sadly, handing me the paper back after he signed his name several times.

"I don't know either Leland."

"You know, we don't have to do this right now…we could wait."

"Wait for what?"

"I don't know." He whispers, looking away from me. "It just seems so final."

"That's usually what divorce means…trust me, this wasn't what I wanted."

He places his hand on top of mine, "I'll always love you Mila… please know that."

The days following my visit with Leland, my soon to be ex-husband; had put me into a deep depression. I couldn't even leave my bed. A fresh batch of tears flowed freely as I my thoughts wandered from Leland to Dylan, who had also been on my mind as I wallowed in my thoughts.

How could I have given my own child away? It wasn't his fault, he hadn't asked for me as his mother. I cried harder, almost to that stage of hyperventilating. Picking up the phone I dialed the number quickly.

"Duane Lee…" I said, taken as much breath as I could. "Can you come to my house?" I say bawling.

Thankfully he was there in about fifteen minutes. He walked into my bedroom with a bottle of water in his hand; handing it to me he sat down next to me and pulled me into his arms.

"I'm sorry for everything." I say quietly, trying to calm myself down. Taking a drink of the cold water I sat up and looked into his eyes. They were sad, and almost gray, not their usual bright blue. I knew that I had hurt him; I had hurt so many people in my life. I felt like all I had done was tell lie after lie to each of them.

"I have to tell Dylan that I'm his mother." I state as he takes the bottle of water from me, sitting it down lightly on my nightstand. His eyes went wide as I told him; he definitely wasn't expecting me to say that.

"Mila, he knows."

Read more: thread/136/tangled-web?page=5#ixzz3CBDtCulk

"You told him!" I scream, louder than I had intended. "When?"

He sighs, looking down at his hands. "Years ago…he might have been ten, I guess." He tells me with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I'm an awful person. I've told so many lies and hidden so many truths. I don't know when I became this person."

"When you were sixteen and pregnant." He replies, looking up, finally meeting my eyes. "Mila, Dylan understands the situation we were in at the time. I've explained it to him; he and I have talked about it daily."

"But I just gave our son away to strangers Duane Lee, I gave him away!"

"You have to calm down" he says as he hands me the water again. "You're going to make yourself sick and that won't help anything."

"I'm already sick; I'm a sick person…a liar! I don't deserve to live. All it would take is…"

"We're not gonna start this suicide bullshit Mila, I won't even let you talk like that! So just stop. You have far too much to live for." He says angrily, pulling me to my feet. "Get the fuck out of this bed and take a shower, your hair is nasty."

He pushes me into the bathroom, turning the shower on. I stood silently by as he turned around and pulled my t-shirt over my head then reached down and pulled my panties off before practically shoving me into the hot shower and slamming the glass door shut.

I jumped as it rattled to a close, then stood there staring at the glass door as the scalding hot water washed over my body.

A moment later, I could see his forehead pressing again the glass, "Mila" he says, his voice raw with emotion, "I've been in love with you since you were sixteen years old and never once have I been more scared that I might lose you than I am right now."

Tears were mixing with the water as he continued to pour his heart out.

"Don't ever blame yourself for what happened with Dylan. We both chose that path for him. You were only a child at the time and you were right, I did know better than to sleep with a sixteen year old. I was stupid…but when I met you it was like opening my eyes for the first time. You made me happy again."

I wiped the steam from the shower door and pressed my own forehead against the glass and looked up at him. "I love you too"

The next day Duane Lee and I decided to sit down with Dylan and have a talk, as a family for the first time.

"Son, before I let Mila talk, I want to tell you how proud I am of the young man that you've become."

Dylan looks at his father strangely. "Thanks Dad."

I sat down next to my son, taking a deep breath. "Dylan…I know that your dad already told you that I'm your mother and that you've known for years. I just wanted to talk to you about it myself and tell you how good it feels to finally be able to say it to you myself."

He smiles and nods his head, encouraging me to continue.

"There are a few things I want you to know about why we chose to give you up for a adoption…I was not much older than you when I got pregnant and I was terrified, I had no parents of my own to help me out. My grandmother was old and couldn't help me, so we did what we thought was best for you."

"We both thought it was best at the time." Duane Lee interjects.

"I want you to know that I understand if you might hate me for what happened. And I understand if you can't ever forgive me for pretending to be your Aunt all these years. But I was trying to raise my other children and worrying every day that someone might find out my secret and tell you before I had a chance to."

"I was your child too!"

"I know baby…" I whisper, looking to Duane for some help as my panic set in.

He clears his throat, "Dylan, when you came back to live with me when you were a little boy, Mila didn't know you were coming back and she already had her other life in progress so it wasn't that she didn't want to raise you, she just couldn't at the time."

Dylan thinks for a moment before speaking, "So you're saying that since you're getting divorced from Uncle Leland that you magically have time to be my mother now?"

"I…"

"Dylan, it's not like that." Duane Lee says reassuringly. "Mila always wanted to be your mother, that isn't what she's saying. She saying that she loves you and she wants to be part of your life and she understands if you can't accept that right now, but she hopes that one day you can."

"I just need a little time to process all of this." Dylan says with a sad smile. "It's not like its new information or anything; I just don't know right now…"

Read more: thread/136/tangled-web?page=5#ixzz3CBDwijNg

"I thought you said he was okay with this." I ask Duane Lee as I fall back against the couch. I couldn't really say that I blamed Dylan for being mad at me…I couldn't even blame him if he hated me for the rest of his life. I hated me.

"He's just a kid. Give him some time." He says encouragingly, pulling me against him.

I nodded my head and leaned into his embrace.

Leland's POV:

I rolled over in bed, coming face to face with Amy. She was already awake and smiling at me. "Good morning beautiful." I whisper, leaning in to kiss her softly.

"Morning." She says quietly.

I knew something was on her mind; it wasn't often that she was awake before I was. I stared into her eyes, trying to figure out what it might be. "Is something bothering you?"

She closes her eyes briefly and lets out a long breath. "I'm fine." She lies, trying to give me a fake smile.

With a laugh I reply, "You're a bad liar baby."

"I think I'm pregnant."

"Say what?"

"Yeah…the last few mornings I've been getting up at about 5:00 feeling nauseous."

I felt like I had been hit with a ton of bricks; this was too much to think about so early in the morning. I was technically still married to Mila and now Amy might be pregnant… this would never go over well.

She continued to stare at me, her eyes piercing my soul. I knew she wanted me to be overjoyed at the news and in a way I was. But I was more scared than excited. So I lied to make her feel better. It wasn't something I enjoyed doing, but in this situation a lie was the best I could do.

Pulling her into my arms, I held her tightly, "I'm so happy right now… we're going to be parents." I whisper in her ear.

Duane Lee's POV:

"You sure are in a good mood today" I tell Mila as I find her dancing around the kitchen as she's cooking. I had just come in from a very long, rough day at work and to see her so happy made the bad part of my day disappear.

She jumped slightly when she heard my voice and turned around toward me. "I'm in a great mood." She replies, throwing her arms around my neck.

"So tell me what's made you so happy on this Tuesday afternoon?" I ask, sitting down in a kitchen chair and pulling her onto my lap.

"I overheard Dylan talking to one of his friends on the phone and he said, 'Let me ask my mom if I can go with you.' Isn't that wonderful"?

I smiled broadly, "That is wonderful babe."

"I'm so happy." She says kissing me on the cheek before standing up and getting back to dinner.

It had been about two months since we talked with Dylan about our situation; and shortly after she moved in with us. Things had been progressing nicely since that day.

I smiled to myself as I watched her moving around the kitchen, humming a random song that was playing on the radio as she cooked. It was something so simple that made me fall completely in love with her all over again.

"I'm happy too." I say out loud.

"What baby?" she asks turning around, a wooden spoon covered in sauce still in her hand as she looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Nothing…just talking to myself."

"You know they say that's not healthy…talking to yourself." She says with a wink before turning back around.

I snuck up behind her, grabbing her around the waist, causing her to drop the spoon into the pot and threw her over my shoulder.

Laughing hysterically, she swatted me on the ass, trying to make me put her back down. "You're gonna throw your back out, old man!" she says, hitting me again.

"Old man? Who are you calling an old man?" I say, throwing her down on the couch and climbing on top of her, tickling her.

"You heard me." She says almost breathless. "Whatcha gonna do about it?" she taunts me, sliding a hand under my shirt.

"Mmm." I moan, biting my lip as her soft hand caresses my chest.

"That's what I thought." She says moving her hand to my side, before trying to tickle me.

I shook my head as she tried her best to make me laugh. "That doesn't work on me." I say, trying my best to be serious as she pouted.

"What does?" she questions, a very innocent look coming over her face.

I unbuckle my pants, "Let me show you." I grunt, taking her hand.


	9. Chapter 9

Faintly I heard Leland stuttering a few…. Uh, uh….uhs as Olivia made her newly discovered knowledge known to everyone.

'Breathe, breathe…breathe' were the words I kept repeating over and over to myself. 'Don't let Leland see the fear on your face…breathe.'

I could hear the muted words as Kaiden spoke to me while I focused on my breathing. I had no idea what he was saying until he tapped me on the arm.

"Mommy, can I play in my new room?"

"Sure baby, go ahead." I whisper. What we were discussing really didn't bother Kaiden in the least bit. As he took off running into his new room I looked up, meeting my ex-husbands eye's; hurt and anger flashed across his face.

He calmly pulled out his phone and dialed someone's number, asking them to come by and pick up the kids for the afternoon. I didn't bother to ask who it might be; he would never leave them with just anyone.

Leland stands up, pulling the girls up with him, "Girls grandma Beth is coming to pick you up so you can swim at her house with the other kids today. Do me a favor and go get your swimsuits and help Kaiden find his okay?"

I sat motionless in the chair. My secret had been brought to light by my six year old. I couldn't be upset with her, she didn't know the difference. I only wondered how she put two and two together and came to that conclusion; as far as I knew neither Duane Lee nor I had ever mentioned Dylan being my child. I suppose it was possible that she overheard Dylan himself saying something when he didn't know those little ears were listening.

Leland and I just stared at one another until the doorbell rang. And no sooner had he shut the door and watched Beth drive away with our children did he start questioning me.

"Honestly, I don't even know where to start Mila."

_I looked down at my hands. I didn't know where to start either._

"Is it true, is Dylan really your son?"

_I chewed the inside of my mouth, and continued looking down at my hands._

"It just blows my fucking mind that my own children know and I don't. It's truly unbelievable."

_I closed my eyes, and continued to chew the inside of my mouth until I could taste blood. I refused to look at him._

"This…this is just…bullshit. I really can't comprehend how you could keep something like this from me; you and Duane Lee. My own brother kept this from me."

_I began to shake one leg up and down, up and down. Trying to do anything I could to keep from looking at Leland._

"Say something damn it!" he says grabbing my face roughly with his hand. "Say something Mila… anything! Defend yourself and tell me this isn't true! Just fucking say SOMETHING!" he screams in my face, punctuating each word with a squeeze of his hand.

"Get your hand off of my face." I whisper, quite calmly. "I don't have to defend myself to you or anyone else for that matter. I no longer answer to you!"

"So it's true?" He asks as I stand up, coming eye to eye with him. "I should have known you were nothing but a whore when I met you."

Read more: thread/136/tangled-web?page=7#ixzz3CBEFtjO2.

"Slow down…Baby, I can't understand you!" I say for the second time, trying my best to figure out what Mila was saying between her sobbing.

"It's out… he knows…"

"What's out? I don't understand?" I say shaking my head.

A fresh batch of tears fall as she screams; "Leland!"

Laughing, I say; "He's out… Out of what, the closet, his mind?"

"This is not the time to be funny, damn it!" I straightened up as she hits me lightly in the arm; "Our secret about Dylan. Olivia told Leland and now he knows that Dylan is our son."

"Oh." I whisper, rather shortly. "What did he say?" I ask, already knowing the answer. At least I knew what I might say if I were in that position.

"He called me a whore and a few other choice words and I ran out the door."

My eyes went wide, "Excuse me? He called you what?" I questioned her, as my blood started to boil. No one called my fiancé a whore and lived to tell the tale.

"Leland said I should have known you were a whore when I married you."

"Fuck him! I'm going over there."

"No!" she yells, grabbing my arm. "Please… I don't want to start anymore fights. This is enough for now; we have to deal with this Duane Lee.

I sighed and sat down next to her on the bed. "I guess now we need to explain ourselves to everyone."

"Where's Amy to steal the spotlight when you need her?" Mila looks up at me and asks, finally able to smile instead of cry.

I pulled her into my arms; squeezing her tightly to let her know everything would be alright when I heard a knock at the front door. We looked at each other, both shrugging our shoulders and walked downstairs.

"Oh great, it's Leland.' Mila tells me as she reaches the bottom of the stairs. Without saying a word, she calmly opens the door, letting him into our house.

"Brah, of all the people in the world you couldn't tell me?" were the first words out of his mouth.

"We didn't tell anyone Leland…not even mom."

"This is such bullshit. I mean… pure fucking bullshit!" he screams to no one in particular. "Well congrats on keeping it a secret."

"I know that you're hurt... But you have to realize that it's not all about you! It wasn't like we were out to get you or cause you any pain. It was a decision we made as Dylan's parents." I tell him as I gesture between Mila and myself. "Believe it or not, Mila did have a life before she married you."

Leland sits down in the chair; running a hand across his forehead. I hoped that he was trying to calm down.

We sit down on the couch and after a few minutes of silence he speaks up. "How could you be married to me for that long and never once tell me? How could you wake up every single day knowing that you had another child that you weren't raising?"

"Leland, I –"

"Let me finish please." He says interrupting Mila. "When Dylan was born that would have made you sixteen years old and my brother was what, nineteen or twenty. Brah, that's sick.

I started to open my mouth to respond but Mila placed her hand on my thigh, stopping me from getting too angry with my brother.

Leland falls silent for a moment, no doubt trying to sort things out in his mind. "If you would have just told me all those years ago we wouldn't be going through this right now."

Mila looks up and calmly says, "There are a lot of things we wouldn't be going through right now if you or I had said or done something different all those years ago. Leland, I can't change the past and I can't change what happened between us; it is what it is… Dylan is my son. And more than anything it breaks my heart that I tried to hide that for so long. It wasn't fair to him or Duane Lee."

"Or yourself." I whisper, putting my arm around her.

"I just don't know if I can ever forgive you Mila." Leland tells her.

She leans into me as she starts to cry; "I don't know if I can ever forgive myself."

Read more: thread/136/tangled-web?page=7#ixzz3CBEJU3kI

I slid into the seat of my Hummer; feeling the weight of Mila's confession on my heart. Taking a deep breath and realizing that I had reached rock bottom; I started the truck and pulled out of the driveway. I drove endlessly for hours; ignoring every phone call and text from Amy... she was persistent to say the least.

Eventually I pulled onto the side of the road and sat on the edge of the retaining wall, watching the waves crash against the rocks. The orange/pink sun was beginning to set.

I was deep in thought before I realized there was a young girl sitting a few feet from me. The gentle breeze rustled her light red hair causing her to tuck the annoying strand behind her ear. She was cute, maybe twenty one; fair skinned…definitely not a local girl.

She looked up and I quickly turned my head. I had been caught staring.

"Hi." Came a sweet voice from my right.

"Uh… Hi." I stammered. I didn't know what it was about this girl that had me so flustered.

"This is so beautiful." She says gesturing out to the ocean. 'I just had to pull over and see the sun set. I don't see anything like this at home."

Home, I thought to myself… "Where's home?" I asked the girl.

"South Carolina." She says softly.

"Southern Belle." I mumble.

A short laugh; "So they tell me."

I scoot a little closer to her, closing the gap between us. "You're a long way from home. Are you here alone on vacation?"

Sadness quickly passes across her features. "No… well yes and no." She says with a wave of her hand. 'I came here with my fiancé for our engagement but he broke it off with me earlier today. He said he wasn't ready to be married."

"So he left you here?" I asked, amazed that anyone would be so cruel.

She nods; "I told him to. I don't have anything worth going back home to now. My family doesn't speak to one another so I've kinda been on my own since I was a teenager."

"You don't look much older than that now." I reply with a smile.

"Thanks, I'm twenty three."

"Leland." I say, reaching out to shake her hand.

"Gabrielle" she says taking my hand. "Or Gabby; that's what most people call me."

"Gabby…that's a beautiful name." I say with a wink, feeling very much like an old pervert. I had at least twelve years on this young girl. Why was I flirting?

She blushed and bit her lip; making her look that much more appealing to me. "Thank you."

"So when do you go back home? Or are you going back home?"

A long silence falls upon us as she thinks about my question. The ocean breeze was still blowing her red hair in different directions as she absent mindedly kicked her feet back and forth.

"Not sure yet. I might see what Hawaii has to offer me." She says with a tilt of her head as a wicked grin spreads across her face.

"Let's get out of here." I whisper quickly; taking her hand.


End file.
